Best Laid Plans... and other cliches.

Best Laid Plans

I’m writing (typing?) this from the couch as I recover from my dual covid booster & flu shot. I’m going to use this opportunity to vent a little. I know a while back I said I was confident that we would finally be able to put out the EP this year. Well, clearly I was mistaken. I originally had the idea for the “My Way in Manila” project back in 2019. It was always meant to be a quick, low-stakes collection of covers of our friend’s songs with minimal production.

We started recording it in the summer of 2020 since there was time to actually accomplish it (I can’t imagine why). A little at a time I began reaching out to different friends to help fill out the recordings as well as get them incorporated into the project. I can’t remember at what point I realized this “quick, low-stakes project” turned into something bigger than what I had intended. Maybe it was around mid-2021 when we were buying the house and moving in.

Then earlier this year we got the amazing news that Krissy was pregnant! Anticipating things would be slowing down with the new baby, I knew we were racing the clock and had to try to get this EP released. As we finished mixing the tracks and sent them out for mastering, we hit a few bumps that needed to be fixed. It was then I realized the EP wouldn’t come out til next year.

…and other cliches.

So here I am on the couch spinning my wheels. I feel stuck. It feels like I can’t move forward until I’ve accomplished this task. I’m still writing, but finishing songs feels like a conveyor belt that keeps running even though it’s blocked up. My frustration starts to internalize and I blame myself for not doing enough. I get jealous of those with time and opportunity. Perhaps I’m talking too much, but I don’t like this idea of creating an illusion that everything is going great. Being a musician and songwriter is hard work and a lot of times we take losses.

But getting to be a father again is no loss. We may not have gotten to put out the EP before the baby comes, but I can’t wait to meet her. I can’t wait for the exhausting nights and getting to experience the world again through her eyes. The songs and the music will always be there waiting, but someone far more important is coming and I can’t wait.

Thanks for listening (reading?) my latest thoughts. I’m still not sure if sharing all this was a good idea, but I’m tired of worrying about what other people think. It’s exhausting. I’m saving all my energy for Sophie.

See you soon,

Robert